I was attending a recent ISA event and overheard a young climber seeking advice about doing the gnarly stuff in tree work. The response was well intended and does have a bit of truth: “It’s easier with people you [...]

Using mechanical advantage in rigging makes lifting heavy loads easier. It works by multiplying the force you apply to the load line. This video shows a 4:1 pulley system that will move a load 4 feet for [...]

  Part 1 of this two-part series, “Heartwood and Heart Rot, Part 1: Are They Important to Arborists?” ran in the May 2023 issue of TCI Magazine. Photo 1: Heart rot is simply decay in the center of the stem [...]

  Do you think about weights when rigging, or just tie stuff on and proceed to cutting? Are you someone who spends time factoring in angles, vectors and the system that needs to be built for the task ahead, or [...]

  As with any technical undertaking, there are various ways to mitigate or dissipate force in our rigging systems. From simple to complex, we have several variables we can manipulate to achieve a common goal of putting less stress on [...]